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Writing a Good Technical Resume?
SuperMallen asks: "As a newly minted hiring manager, I've spent the last few weeks plowing through the large pile of resumes for one of my open positions. The varying formatting and quality of the resumes has stunned me. People do everything from a short list of jobs and positions to essays on each and every project they ever thought about in a job. Everyone seems to subscribe to the 'here's a giant pile of technologies I'm familiar with at the top' school, but I usually ignore this and go straight for their past work history and glean from there. Surely the Slashdot community can help point out what makes for good formatting and content in a technical resume. I'd love to also see some good sample resumes people have used in the past, and any good websites or book recommendations on how to write these effectively, so we can all spend less time reading and writing bad ones."
I've had occasion to read through stacks of Curriculum Vitea (I'm English) in my job. It's truly a soul destroying task. I don't have any links to samples but experience has taught me one universal truth: Long lists of skills mean nothing. People put everything they've ever heard of. It comes to the interview and it goes along the lines of "You know Perl well? No, but I walked past the Camel book in a library once.". If there isn't any mention of using the skill then the chances are the candidate hasn't ever used it professionally. I've updated my CV to put jobs and key projects with a description of the skills used in each first now.
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Well, first of all you should realise that every applicant is just trying to please you. So if they write the CV in a certain way, they do it because they expect you to like it that way. How do they know? Well, they go by the few clues that they have, the most important ones being the job announcement and the company website.
:-).
> People do everything from a short list of jobs and positions to essays on each and every project they ever thought about in a job.
If you think that the variety makes it difficult to compary CVs, you can specify a certain structure. The easiest way to do that is a web front end for entering the CV information, with some guidelines on how many details to give. Just look at the CV generator at monster to get the idea. For applicants that can be a pain (unless you use e.g. monster), so you may lose some, but if it makes your work easier, it might be worth it.
> Surely the Slashdot community can help point out what makes for good formatting and content in a technical resume.
That depends on what you are looking for. I like to see a clear (and appropriate) structure, because structure is so important in IT. Many HR people look for fonts and spelling etc, but I always found that a bit superficial. Instead have a look for good command of the english language, which is not at all too common
Oh, and BTW: all these requirements also apply to the job ad. You get what you deserve. So if your job ad is a huge unformated pile of bullshit bingo and TLAs, don't complain about the declining quality of resumes!
The ideal resume structure depends upon the job for which one is applying. A resume I recently used was slightly under 200 lines of (up to) 78 characters of ASCII text; its sections were "Education" (2 degrees, 5 lines), "Scholarships" (3 entries, 3 lines), "Awards" (5 entries, 5 lines), "Employment" (3 entries, 8 lines), "Research" (8 entries, 60 lines), "Other activities" (10 entries, 20 lines), "Publications" (10 entries, 25 lines), "Software written" (3 entries, 15 lines), and "Grep bait" (3 lines). Obviously, this was heavily weighted towards pointing out my research abilities; this makes sense, since I was applying for a job doing research.
If I had been applying for a position as a programmer, I would probably have swapped the positions and lengths of the "Software written" and "Research" sections. If I was applying for a scholarship, I would have listed more of the awards I've received. If I was applying for a job at a company which didn't have a reputation for applying computers to the task of filtering resumes, I would have omitted the "Grep bait" section.
It's not rocket science: Decide what job you want, decide what you would like to see on a resume if you were hiring someone for that job, and then write that resume.
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The problem with resumes these days, IMO, is that you have to both make a resume that'll get through the automated filters many companies use and still be grabbing to the human that eventually will read it. Filters throw out anything without the right keywords so you have to cram your resume with lots of keywords. Obviously, like web pages that are stuffed with keywords, this leads to resumes that are long and ugly. Then you feel your resume is to long and repetitive so you feel the need to trim out details in your work and education history.
I always feel the need to explain not only what I know but also how well I know it and how recently I've used it. This is helpful I think but leads to a resume that some people throw out as simply being to verbose.
Then my girlfriend says my resume is ugly so she wants to spend a lot of time picking the right fonts, paper, etc despite the fact that the nicer looking version is actually harder to read. I hate resumes. Why don't we use one of the available XML-based formats for passing around resumes.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
Identification & contact details. (address, phone etc)
Date (so they know the resume is current)
Summary blurb. (Use this as your "hook" if you have anything to brag about.
"On our last project I was instrumental in our team's successful cure for cancer, elimination of world hunger and the establishment of Unreal Tournament as the nation's premier sporting event."
Bullet point listing of key competencies.
* Brain surgery
* Microsurgery
* Lisp coder
etc
One or two paragraph summary of experience, most recent first.
August 2005 - Current:
Crowd controller for Rammstein.
Acting as a human buffer to crazed fans, I successfully protected the band from encroachment and injury on 37 separate occasions. A strong commitment to workplace safety was demonstrated by my use of a rubber-shielded baton, while my leather and vinyl attire coordinated well with the band's homo-industrial stage antics.
July 2004 - August 2005:
Speech Writer for Tourettes' Debating Team.
etc
The key is to get ALL of this up to a couple of your most recent gigs on one page. That'll give the reviewer a good chance to assess you and shortlist you without having to wade through reams of paper, so keep it al brief and to the point.
Once you've got that part done, you an start listing other experience and qualifications on the following pages, then finish up with references. As well as a list of names and contact info, it's a good idea to include a couple of juicy quotes from referees.
References
"T Person was the most effective human speed-bump this company has ever employed. His great bulk would have been enough to stop a rocket propelled tank."
Good luck...
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
I'm not in position of actually hiring people, but every now and then I've been asked to interview the employee candidates. The managers then base their decision (more or less) on my opinion. In the (hopefully clearly structured) resume, the candidate claims to have knowledge on specific technical areas, let it be programming environments, languages, databases or whatever.
My job as a interviewer is to determine how truthful the resume is. This is done by discussing the competence areas with rather low level technical terms. Asking whether the candidate can explain terms like semaphore, mutex, process, thread, iteration, recursion, and so on, tells a lot about persons technical skills. Way more than "Java Programming, level 4", in the resume.
So if the person can fluently discuss with technical terms, he probably also knows the stuff he's talking about. Conclusion? A compact, well structured resume may get you to the interview, but IMHO it's the interview that eventually matters.
Most recruiters, job engines, etc wouldn't even forward you the resume if it didn't match certain keywords. So people that want to get their resume in front of someone have to put every conceivable keyword on there, in the hopes that their resume will at least get to some decisionmaker. You can safely ignore that list, it's an unfortunate consequence of trying to get hired in today's market. A classically formatted resume will never get past the computer filters.
stuff |
I can't tell if you are joking or not, but forget about the
"keep it to one-page advice".
If you can only fill in one page, then keep it to one page.
If you need 10 pages, fill 10 pages, but try to put the really good and recent stuff on the first page.
Think long and hard if you want to work for a company that rejects you based solely on the number of pages you submit.
The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
I disagree. If I'm looking at a stack of resumes and I'm busy (i.e., not a HR professional) I'll not likely pick up one that weighs a lot. A heavy CV usually indicates too much information (possibly padding) and someone who cannot (for ego reasons or whatever) summarize their own experience and qualifications.
Put a web link or note mentioning extra information instead. If the interviewer is interersted s/he'll call you for more details.
>If I'm looking at a stack of resumes and I'm busy (i.e., not a HR professional) I'll not likely pick up one that weighs a lot.
Your job is to find the right person for the job. Again its not clear how the weight of a resume has anything to do with this. Do you also filter by the orientation of the staple on the resume?
For me, do I really want to work for you if my coworkers were chosen by this arbitrary method? What does it say about your skills as a manager?
"Hi! I have no technical skills, no experience I can share, but I work here because I lucked out because I have a one page resume. Good thing too, because I would have lost to at least three other more qualified people but they never even got looked at because they had a hefty five page resume. Nice to meet you."
>A heavy CV usually indicates too much information (possibly padding) and someone who cannot (for ego reasons or whatever) summarize their own experience and qualifications.
I can do both of those things, pad and fail to summerize, with a one or two page resume.
>Put a web link or note mentioning extra information instead.
You can't be bothered to turn the page of a document right in front of you, yet you find it ok to ask a person to go to an computer and type in a potentially long/complex text (URL)?
The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
I assume you are looking for any paycheck that pays the bills and uses your skills, and that you aren't expecting $50,000 to start. You won't get it with your history.
After you've been employed 2-5 years GPA becomes less important.
Get a job, any job, even if it's not in IT. You need to pay the bills and get some "employment" experience. Best would be one that has a decent-sized IT dept, preferably one in the same building you are in.
In your spare time, do volunteer work that can boost your resume. Teach kids how to use computers or better yet, teach them how to code. Design web pages for charities. Write some code and publish it. Coach a kid's sports team - that shows leadership and management skills. The list goes on.
Meet people. Join your local ACM or IEEE professional chapter if there is one. Join your college alumni association.
If you have the luxury, pick a job that will lead to internal or external connections. If you work as a bank teller then get transferred to corporate, you can have lunch with some IT guys. In 3 or 4 years, they may hire you.
Another option is to go for the low-wage IT hire. Go to your state's employment office and look for IT jobs. SOME, not all mind you, but SOME, of those companies are looking for cheap labor and won't mind a sub-3 GPA at all, if you are willing to work for under the industry norm.
From reading your post, your biggest obstacle to getting a paycheck isn't your low GPA, but your past and possibly present shyness. If it's a current problem, join Toastmasters or a similar organization, they can help in that department.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
There is some good advice in this thread and you should take it to heart.
I can think of a few other things. For one, do you have email addresses of old classmates, profs and school friends? Are you in touch with them all? If not, consider starting to contact them even if you haven't seen them in well over a year. Drop them a line to see how they are and what they are up to and mention that you are in the job market and would truly appreciate hearing of any openings they may know of.
Do you live near a decent market? If not, would you consider moving? Being willing to relocate might open new opportunities for you.
By all means, follow up! I can't stress that enough. If you see a job listing and send in your resume and cover letter (you do fine tune each to the job and company right? Research is easy with companies having a web presence and being unemployed you should have the spare time.) follow up a few days later. An email is the most basic, better if you are able to pinpoint an actual person, better than that is to call them. I know you said you are shy, but forcing yourself to do this is well worth it. Just call the main switchboard and ask to speak with someone in HR. If they ask why say it's to follow up on a job application. Believe me, this small bit of initative will make you stand out from the mass of emailed resumes.
Is your resume on the job boards? At least once a week (better once a day) go into your account and "update" your resume. When employers and consulting agencies do a candidate search the responses are listed by freshness. At least that is what my sister who is a headhunter has told me.
Again, I know you said you are shy (and I can empathize with that), but you might want to force yourself to take the steps to get involved with a developer community. Many technologies have regional/local user groups. Could be a good way to meet new people and maybe learn of an opening somewhere.
You haven't said where your talents/skills lie, but I bet you could find ways of putting them to use which would help you build a portfolio showing you can code. Whether it's volunteering to help a local non-profit on their website, soliciting local businesses for consulting work, hobby projects which you can reference in your cover letters (and pointing to source code on your website), etc. You need to show a prospective employer that you can "do".
Once you get an interview, whether it is a phone interview or a face-to-face one make sure to follow up immediately with a "thank you for your time" email. It used to be a thank you card was the norm, but email seems to be very acceptable now and it is immdediate. Also reiterate in it briefly why you want the job, how excited you are about the possibility of working there, etc. You can also use this as an opportunity to point out something that you forgot in the interview. Again, a little extra effort and initiative helps you stand out. Personally, this and being very enthusiastic in the interview, have probably led to more job offers than anything else.
Finally, just to reiterate what others have said -- look into getting into a consulting group. It'll get you job experience and help you build up a network. Once you can put some work experience on your resume your educational background (and that GPA) will not be the thing a prospective employer will focus in on. They'll see that you can hold a job, know how to work, and can produce results.
Good luck to you!